Sunday, September 26, 2010

It's my first trip to Bukit Tabur with my fellow Taburians after puasa month! It's a long break for all of us from hiking activities. It's now time to resume it!

Three of us have made Bukit Tabur our playground. Whenever we don't have anything planned for the weekend and we feel like doing hiking and rock climbing, Bukit Tabur will be our choice! This week, two colleagues joined us. Both of them enjoyed the experience and they don't mind coming back again!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

SelamatHariRayaAidilFitri to all. It's never too late for Raya greetings, we are still in Syawal month. The above pic was shot by my son while we were on the way to Pasir Mas from KualaPilah. It took us 9.5 hours of driving to reach the destination. Otherwise, I don't think it'd take that long. It was jam around 60 km from KotaBharu! We were caught in the jam at 3 different spots. The was simply too much traffic on the roads!

Driving around Kelantan during Raya was really no fun. The roads were jam wherever we went. We were caught in the jam again when we went for bekwah (kenduri) in KualaKrai on the fourth day of Raya. It took us 3 hours for a distance that normally takes 1 hour of driving.

I guess I must have got enough of the jam. I drove quite fast on the way back to KL as though to compensate for the less enjoyable experience I had days before. It took me 7 hours only from Pasir Mas to Putra Heights including a long stop for lunch at GentingSempah! That was on Thursday or 7th day of Raya!

Not many people make their ketupat this way anymore. I took this pic at my uncle's place in KualaPilah.

It's our first time celebrating Raya without our beloved parents. My mum passed away a few months ago. Nevertheless, we made lemang one day before Raya. So we had lemangpanas for the last bukapuasa. Told my sister about lemangjagung. We'd make this the next time we make lemang!

I had fun time plucking dokong at home too! I took the time to climb the tree and see whether it'd hurt my back or not. Thank God, it didn't! I can say I'm fully recovered from my slip disc! I hope so as I can't wait to resume my favourite activity! However, I didn;t bring back any dokong at all as the there was no storage area left in my car boot!

There were rambutans too. It's my favourite type, rambutananaksekolah, which are grown mostly in Kelantan area!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

I went for a brisk walk at a park nearby my place this morning (Saturday). As usual I brisk walked for about 50 minutes or 5 rounds. During fasting month, there was less crowd at the park. I could count there were less than 5 Muslims at the park. I guess all forms of exercise is being put to a stop during Ramadhan among us Muslims.

This time around I went to the park with my basic DSLR. I always say it's basis as it's entry level kind of DSLR. And I didn't add anything more to it, no fancy lens, etc.

In fact, I don't really know how to use most of the functions. when I snapped pic, I always use the auto selection. All the pictures below were taken that way.

When it comes to taking pictures, I like portrait, landscape and close-up of flowers. For portrait, I take pictures of my relatives during family gatherings or pictures of my family members. As for landscape, my hiking activity provides me with ample opportunity to do that.

Friday, September 3, 2010

SEREMBAN: The Lata Kijang recreational forest in Jelebu near here has been temporarily closed after the soil structure in the area was found to have been destabilised following heavy rains in recent days.

Several landslips have also been reported in the area recently following incessant rain.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said all activities in the area had to be stopped until authorities gave the green light.

“No one will be allowed to use the facilities in the recreational area for whatever reason,” he said.

He said that the authorities have been monitoring the situation over the past few days.

Standing at 100m, Lata Kijang is among the highest waterfalls in the country.

Mohamad said Forestry De­­partment officers have been patrolling the 380ha forest area to ensure no one violated the directive.

“The stairs built to take visitors right to the top of the waterfall is also unsafe.

We have discovered that the soil structure in the area has weakened,” he told reporters on Wednesday after the weekly state executive committee meeting.

Mohamad said a bailey bridge, toilets, resting area and the camping site were also sitting on unstable ground.

“There has been massive soil erosion in the area as large volumes of water have been brought down from upstream to the seven-storey high waterfall,” he added.

He said Sungai Kenaboi, which runs through the reserve, had also become shallow due to erosion and large amounts of sand being deposited in the river.

“The roof of a building being built at Taman Alam Liar caved in after a tree fell on it,” he said.

Prior to this, several scientific expeditions have been launched to the Lata Kijang forest area and Gunung Besar Hantu, which was a repository of flora and fauna.

Gunung Besar Hantu is among the cluster of mountains located at the tail end of the Titiwangsa Range. Standing at 1,462m above sea level, it is among the highest peaks in Peninsular Malaysia.

The state government recently gave a RM5mil grant to upgrade facilities at Lata Kijang and Gunung Besar Hantu.

Mohamad said the authorities, had since Aug 20, cordoned off the area and warning signs would be put up.